Diocesan Museum System

The Diocesan Museum System is composed of the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of Susa and four others in the area, situated in Melezet (Bardonecchia), Novalesa, Giaglione and San Giorio di Susa. This administrative choice was determined by the wish to promote the valley’s artworks, without removing the artistic heritage of the local communities. The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art in Susa is the headquarters of the Museum System, and is housed in the building complex next to the old Madonna del Ponte church. The current exhibition space covers an area of approximately 900 square metres, comprising the exhibition rooms, an interactive multimedia area, and rooms for conferences and small conventions. The museum’s collections include the most precious and important artworks of the treasure of the cathedral of San Giusto and the Madonna del Ponte church, along with jewels, wooden and stone statues, and fabrics from various areas of the Susa Valley. The Museum of Alpine Religious Art of Melezet was founded out of the need to house the foremost artworks of the parishes of the Bardonecchia basin and displays wooden statuary, gold and jewels, paintings and textiles dating from the 15th to the 20th century. The Museum of Alpine Religious Art of Novalesa is housed in the chapel of the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament, adjoining the parish church of Santo Stefano, in the heart of the town. The museum was founded with the purpose of conserving and promoting the many very important works of art – some of European importance – housed in the parish church of Novalesa. The Museum of Alpine Religious Art of Giaglione is housed in the rooms next to the parish church of San Vincenzo Martire. The museum display features the finest artworks from many sites in the Giaglione district, and its collection of 17th-century wooden statuary by the school of Clappier is particularly significant. The San Giorio di Susa museum is housed in the chapel of San Lorenzo (known as the Conte Chapel), with frescoes painted between 1328 and 1330.

The collections housed in the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of Susa cover a time span stretching from Late Antiquity to the contemporary age. Highlights include the treasure of the cathedral of San Giusto, which comprises a bone reliquary made by barbarian craftsmen (7th century), the door-knockers from the old portal of the cathedral of San Giusto (third decade of the 12th century), and the processional cross by Johannes Bos (c.1370). The centrepiece of the collection of gold and jewels is the Rocciamelone Triptych, commissioned in 1358 in Flanders by Bonifacio Roero, from Asti, who placed it on the summit of Mount Rocciamelone to fulfil a vow. The sculpture collection is also notable, with rare and sophisticated stone carvings dating from the 14th and the 15th centuries, flanked by numerous works in wood, such as the Villar Focchiardo Maestà (early 13th century), the Madonna della Losa Altarpiece (c.1420–30) and the works by the Master of the Savoulx Madonna and the Master of the Mass of Saint Gregory, both active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The textile collections are also worth mentioning, with fabrics produced between the 15th and 20th centuries, as are the collections of paintings, which include the panel of the Coronation of the Virgin made by a follower of Defendente Ferrari in 1510–20, and several 17th and 18th-century canvases. The Melezet museum houses silverware, wooden statuary, paintings and vestments from nearby parish churches, which can be dated between the 15th and 20th centuries. In this case too, the highlights include the works by the sculptural schools of the Upper Susa Valley, active between the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century. The collections of the Museum of Novalesa feature an interesting array of artworks belonging to different historical periods, starting from the Roman Age and continuing with the Lombard, Carolingian and Napoleonic periods. The exhibition narrative is supplemented by a visit to the adjoining parish church of Santo Stefano, which is home to many artistic masterpieces. The Giaglione Museum houses a noteworthy collection of Alpine wooden sculpture dating from the 15th to the 20th century, produced by the prestigious carving schools of the Maurienne Valley. Lastly, the San Giorio Museum vaunts a cycle of frescoes of impressive theological depth, showing Scenes from the Life of Saint Lawrence and the Life of Christ. The depiction of the Cavalcade of the Three Living and the Three Dead is extraordinary.